The present invention relates to a novel composition of matter. More particularly, it relates to a novel enantiomer of a known compound which is characterised by unexpected advantageous pharmacological properties and to pharmaceutical preparations containing this isomer as active ingredient. Other and further aspects of the present invention will become apparent hereinafter.
Hitherto compounds belonging mainly to two families of chemical compounds are used for the treatment of glaucoma:
A. Cholinesterase inhibitors like eserine (physostigmine) and phospholine; PA1 B. Acetylcholine like drugs, such as pilocarpine and aceclidine.
One of the drawbacks of pilocarpine is the lack of stability of solutions of same. Furthermore, it is necessary to resort to repeated topical applications every few hours in order to reduce the intraoccular pressure due to glaucoma.
Aceclidine is suited for the treatment of glaucoma, and this is the racemic form of 3-acetoxy-quinuclidine. According to the invention, it has been found that the (+) form of 3-acetoxy-quinuclidine has pronounced advantageous pharmacological properties in comparison with the racemic form. The (+) form decreases effectively the intraoccular pressure due to glaucoma, and the effect lasts for comparatively prolonged periods of time. It is one of the important advantages of the (+) isomer that it has a comparatively long shelf life. While that of solutions of pilocarpine is about 1 to 2 months, that of solutions of the (+) isomer is at least 6 months.